These speakers are a steal for $350. They're midrange is articulate,and detailed, with a big open sound. The treble is as clear as a bell, and
the Bass is suprisingly quick and tight. They need a powerful amp to drive
them however. For $350 I really don't have a complaint. Partnered with a
good subwoofer I think I'll have an awesome system. Five stars. A must hear.

Very nice for the price. Clean & articulate. Bass is a bit light butwhat is there is accurate. Would rate 5 stars in its price class but
only 3 overall (since there are much better speakers on the market,
albeit at higher prices).

These speakers excel in soundstaging and imaging. And these speakers integrate very well with high quality subwoofers. But these speakers, in my opinion, are overhyped. These will not outperform speakers costing better than $500 like many people claim. They are good, but not that good. I considered these speakers for a longtime before I settled on Vandersteen 1cs. If your speaker budget is less than $500, get these. If not, consider more expensive speakers. Superones can sound dry and metallic, not to mention artificial. Four stars.

After listening to 20+ speakers at 5 stores, the SuperOnes were tied with theParadigm MiniMKIII's as the best sounding small speakers in this price range.
The SuperOne's were smoother and had more extended treble, the Paradigms were
more "exciting" - accentuated midrange and more efficient. I got a deal on
the SuperOne's, which made the decision easier. After a month in my living
room, I like them even more. Great speakers at a great price. I will be
adding a 3rd one for a center channel, and probably a SW2Pi to fill in the
bass. This will be a killer surround system.

Very small and very nice looking.
The sound is very clear and a lot of bass for a small box.

NONE

I have had the NHT's for about 4 month and I love them.
even if you have a crappy amp they still sound great.

I am looking for a great sub and i am looking at the Subone and the Sunfire Jr.. I am looking in the 700 to 800 price range.

The Superones have a great sound and very precise imaging and great on vocals.

P.S. I had to turn the speakers slightly toward the listening position for the best sound.

I would recommend these speakers to anyone.

happy listening
ty woodson

Price!!!!!!

Have to agree with the last review by Ty, I can't believe how good my crapy receiver sounds with these puppies. After looking at the others and while the Mini Monitors & 302s were the best, I decided to look around and found the superones's. They are great but hear is the best part, $300/pair CANADIAN TAXES IN. Believe it, I didn't at first either but since then I have purchased another pair and a matching super centre all for $925 Can. taxes in. The dealer then told me what a good deal I got since they list in some places at $600/pair Can.

Similar Products Used:

Heard Mini Monitor, Titans, Atoms, PSB alpha, apha mites, and BNW 302's

Imaging, clarity, price, finish.

A little sterile-sounding

I have used these speakers as mains in a home theater setup for about eight months now, and have only just realized how amazing they are. I was living in an apartment before, so I could only use one receiver, a Kenwood 309. The Kenwood is fine for movies, but is horrible when it comes to two-channel stereo. I got the S1's to replace the cheap Kenwood speakers that came with the HTB502 system, and the main thing that I noticed was how the front soundstage opened up. My wife and I experienced the proverbial "I thought I heard something outside" reactions, because the effects really seemed to be coming from somewhere other than the speakers themselves.

Anyway, I just moved into a house, and I decided to try the S1's with an older 70W integrated amp in a dedicated media room. The result was nothing short of phenomenal. I have spent the last few days re-listening to my favorite CD's. I have never experienced imaging like this before. Sounds seem to come deep out of and from the sides of the soundstage, above, below, and sometimes even from behind my ears. I hear breaths that the musicians take and instruments that I've never noticed until now, and this was with the same amp that I've used with several different kinds of speakers in many different rooms over the years.

If this speaker has any drawbacks, it is that it is a little too accurate, and many of my older CD's sound poorer than I remember them. The bass response leaves you wanting a bit more, but you can get by without a sub if you need to. And at times, I wish they could be a little warmer, but I really should try them with a stronger amp. Everytime I think that they sound too dry, however, I smile from ear to ear when I am enveloped in sound. Sometimes it's almost creepy.

5 stars for value, 4.5 overall

Similar Products Used:

Mission 77, Energy Take-5, Klipsch 10.5, Boston Acoustics CR9

Neutral, detailed, good imaging, tight bass if not full-range, small, attractive finish and good workmanship

Limited bass extension, high end a bit white, slightly hard sounding, overall grip and coherence not equal to the best small speakers.

Note the products mentioned under "similar products" are simply all the small 2-ways I've owned or heard extensively; most are no longer available. They range in price from $100/pair for the Cambridge 17s to $3000 1990 list for the Celestion 700s with stands, so not comparable in price. The most interesting comparison is with NHT's own Super Zero.

Whenever I have a little extra cash I'm likely to go out and buy another pair of small speakers touted by the audio press. It's an addiction and I'm not proud of it, but we all need a hobby, right? I live in an apartment and my listening room is smallish. I listen mostly to jazz, classical and vintage rock, at healthy but limited volume. I have listened to the Super Ones with a Marantz CD-63SE, which is a hot-rodded "audiophile" version of the CD-63. It was highly recommended by Sam Tellig in Stereophile some years back. It is very detailed, smooth and spacious. Amplification has come from a good quality Harman Kardon high-current receiver, and from two configurations of separates: Adcom tuner-preamp with a Rotel 50wpc power amp; and the same Adcom tuner-preamp with a Conrad Johnson MV-50 tube power amp. The MV-50 is an antecedant of today's MV-55. It is very sweet sounding with lots of bloom, good definition and a very realistic soundstage. It is almost too lush sounding. The Rotel is dry and punchy, with good bass extension. The HK receiver is more refined sounding than the Rotel, but not as dynamic.

Now, as to the speakers. First, let me say that NHT speakers in general impress me as having good to exceptional imaging and a neutral response through the frequency range. I am very impressed by the $2500 model 2.9, which is much better than the popular 2.5.
The 1.3 and its replacement, the 1.5, are neutral-balanced, mid-price mini-monitors with superb image localization, better even than my JRs and Celestions. The "Focused Geometry" bit really works. Earlier NHTs were somewhat hot sounding in the treble, but in recent years the only thing to object to has been a slightly wispy metal dome coloration in the models using their metal dome (for those who are sensitive to this sound), and some leanness in the bass, probably attributable to the use of small drivers and trendy narrow enclosures. The bass has been well defined however and is probably more accurate than that of most "full-bodied" sounding speakers. The Super One is described in NHT literature as being like a Super Zero with bass. They use the same tweeter, NHT's soft dome model. Higher NHT models use their aluminum dome, which is higher-res, but wispy to my ears. Their soft dome, on the other hand, seems to rise in the middle of the cymbal range, then fall at the top. Definition is just a bit dry, or sizzly, or hot, or steamy, or white noise-ish -- hard to pick the best adjective. Both tweeters are well-controlled and detailed on the whole; neither is a bad unit, just less than the ultimate (which, in my judgement, is the Genesis circular ribbon once used in the better Infinity speakers (Infinity founder Arnie Nudel left to found Genesis.)) The Super Zero, if you have never heard it, simply does not have enough bass to be listenable without a subwoofer. Not only does it fail on classical music: In my opinion, it fails on any kind of music. On the other hand, you will enjoy its spatiality, terrific instrument localization and clean, unboxy midrange even as you grind your teeth in frustration at not having any bass to go along with the rest of the music. I was especially impressed by the sound of an old Motown recording -- the Tempations or similar -- in which you could clearly distinguish 5 separate and stable positions in the mix, pan-potted from one side to the other. In my opinion, the Super One does not quite equal the imaging ability of the Super Zero. This is probably because its bass/midrange driver is larger and less able to follow the waveform at the top of its passband. The trade-off is that the Super One does not need a subwoofer, though you will not be able to attain a high-end sound character without one. Super-One sealed-box bass is lean 'n clean, ample for casual listening, but lacks the extension of, say, a good floor-standing speaker. So the question arises, why buy the Super One for its extra bass if you're going to buy a subwoofer? Why not just buy the Super Zero? I give up. The Super Zero plus subwoofer hookup will give you a good full-range sound with better imaging. I have heard this arrangement and I did not detect any "hole in the midrange" such as some sub-satellite combinations are guilty of. The only argument I can see for the Super One is that it will go louder and, perhaps, will sound a bit fuller, especially when driven hard. But then, why not go up to $1300 and buy the model 2.5 (or to $800 and buy the surprisingly fine-sounding Super Two towers, which are full-range and don't need a subwoofer)? A good comparison for the Super One is the unported version of the Celestion 3, a low-priced two-way small sealed box that came out around the same time and received rave reviews, but is no longer made. The Celestion, with its titanium tweeter, had noticeably more extended and better defined highs, a more graceful and euphonic sound overall, but a little less punch and a tad less stable imaging. The Celestion 3 in its day sold for about $275 a pair, roughly equivalent to the Super One. Among small speakers, the best dynamics, in the sense of handling rapid transient attacks and crescendos that do not exceed its loudness limits, belongs to the el cheapo Cambridge Soundworks 17. Designed by henry Kloss, Henry always had a thing for tone-burst photos, and nothing I've heard can match the start-stop speed of his little 17s, not even the original KLH 17 after which the present speaker is named. The Super Ones sound slow by comparison. My God, even the Celestions sound slow by comparison (though they extract considerably more information out of the signal.) But the 17s are otherwise too hard sounding, too tight, and deficient in bass. (Whaddya want for $89 a pair!?) I can't recommend them, though I intend to listen to the next model up in the Cambridge line, the Model Six, just out of curiosity to see what Old 'Enery can do when given a few more bucks to work with. The Super Ones have good detail and reproduction of timbre, but switching back and forth between these and any of the more expensive speakers -- B&Ws, JRs, or Celestion 700s --- it's clear that some information as well as some warmth is lost in the transition. The use of the tube amplifier did dramatically enhance the smoothness and naturalness of the Super One, so perhaps with just the right components it would produce a high-end sound. Short of that, I'd say it's a very good mid-fi speaker with its heart in the right place. Definitely worth a listen, but before I spent a lot of money on partnering electronics I'd buy its more expensive sibling, the 1.5i, for around $550 (and probably not long for this world)which has NHT's best tweeter and the woofer used in the model 2.5. But you may prefer the Super One (or Super Two) especialy for rock. It's good enough that individual taste may determine a preference for the cheaper speaker. Sorry I can't give you a definite yea or nay, but the audio world is subjective. Whatever you do, listen before you buy! And preferably get a 30-day return option, as offered by Crutchfield, HiFi.com and some other retailers.

Similar Products Used:

NHT Super Zero, Radio Shack Optimus One, B&W CDM2, JR-149, Celestion 700, Cambridge Soundworks 17, Celestion 3, Spica TC-50, NHT 1.3

I'm not a great reviewer, so I'll blab my story to you first.
These babies are some sweet sounding bookshelf speakers, especially for the price which is low (not for me, but for most people I guess). I am a semi-beginning audio enthusiast, so don't expect me to say anything more accurately than the others that have reviewed before me. Plus, I'm just a teenager and most of the guys reviewing stuff on here are at least 25 y/o.

Anyway, I have never really went out and tested speakers before buying any, seeing as how I never had money. Now that I have a job, I can afford to spend some cash actually. I had the biggest pile of crap 12" 3-way speakers for about 3 years which were hooked up to an even bigger pile of crap stereo for one of those 3 years. Then I got a decent Kenwood 100WPC amp which helped, but still the speakers just sucked. Then I got a pair of KLH speakers with two 12" woofers (one passive) handling 325 watts (supposedly). Anyway, these were about 100 times better than my old piles. After having those for 20 months and constantly hearing my parents' 1975 Vector Research 65WPC receiver and a pair of 1985 $120 Sears 12" 3-ways sound better than my 1 year old stereo (putting out more, better bass when they had bass set at 0 (from -10 to 10), better treble and better mid), I went out and looked for some REAL speakers and a new receiver. I happened to fall onto a JVC RX-884V receiver for $290 on eBay so I bought it (which, might I add, puts out what sounds like about half the 100 watts my Kenwood puts out, if even half!). I was sorta disappointed with its power, but hey! it has dolby digital built in and an on screen menu (big freakin' deal).

So I have an OK amp as long as I don't want to listen to really loud music. Now I need some real speakers. I wanted a powered sub and didn't know what to get. I hadn't heard of this site yet, or I would have looked here at the reviews. Anyway, I couldn't resist a (don't laugh) Jensen 15" sub. The thing is, it has a Carver/Sunfire 500 watt RMS amp built in, not some Jensen-made cheapy amp. I got that for $227.50 brand new off eBay and it costs $599 directly from Jensen.

I figured I just needed some bookshelf speakers now, since I can adjust the sub's crossover to take up where the little speakers leave off. I then learned of this site and started looking last night. After about 5 hours, I narrowed it down to a few choices for under about $300: Sony SS-MF515, NHT SuperZeroes and NHT SuperOnes. I knew Sony wasn't respectable in the speaker area, but that pair got 11 rave reviews. The SuperZeroes I thought would be good. I wanted to hear them all first, though. Where I live, it is very limited when it comes to technology and electronics, seeing as how about 1 in 100 people around here even own a receiver. So the demand isn't very high for quality audio stuff. Vanns had a few Klipsch and some JBLs. Sound Decisions had some good stuff, but nothing under $400. Then I heard about Aspen Sound. I thought they just sold car audio. I was wrong.

I called Aspen Sound and they carried NHT! I was amazed. I went there figuring I'd get the SuperZeroes after Aspen salesman told me their prices ($250 for the Zeroes, $350 for the Ones). I listened to them both, and just felt the Zeroes lacked lower-mids a little too much for my taste so I just spent the cast and went for the SuperOnes. I love them. When you pick them up, they feel solid. They actually put out a little bass, sound crystal clear on the highs without making you cringe at high volumes, and they just sound great. From what I know about imaging (not much) these SOBs have great imaging when positioned correctly. I did notice a pretty low sensitivity rating at 86 dB (2.83 volts rating instead of 1 watt rating which can be cheated, I've read) so you might want a fairly modern or older powerful amp, but pretty much anyone spending over 300 bucks on a pair of bookshelf speakers already has a good enough receiver. Of course you'd want to add a powered sub to these, as you would with any bookshelf speaker. I figure a 500 watt RMS Carver 15" sub should do the trick. Another reason I chose these speakers over the SuperZeroes is because these can handle more power and I figured I could maybe sell my Jensen sub to my friend for $400, make some profit, and just use the SuperOnes with no sub. But if that Jensen sub is really as powerful as they've advertise, I'll have to keep it. I love bass and I couldn't live with just the 57hz and above coming out of a 6.5 inch woofer for the rest of my young years (although I hear college dorms have limited space, not to mention 20 people getting iritated from the bass coming from your sub).

The SuperOnes are well worth your $300 (or $350 in my case) and I would suggest these to anyone that wants great sound without much bass unless they want to dish out another 300 bucks for a sub. I've noticed a lot of older women (if not ALL) like music without a lot of bass, just enough to hear, which the SuperOnes do wonderfully.

I'm not going to regret this purchase ever, unlike my JVC receiver purchase...dangit! The NHTs make the JVC sound like a good receiver. I don't think the JVC deserves to have a(n) NHT (Now Hear This) speaker grace its presence, but OH WELL!

This wasn't much of a review, but maybe you're the kind of guy (or gal) that likes to read what some 18 year old jerk-off has to say about his $1100 stereo. 5 Stars all the way! (Stars? They look more like the actually speaker itself than a star)

Very clear & detailed midrange. Tight mid-bass. Beautiful finish. Solid cabinet.

A bit treble heavy at low listening levels, but sound beautiful when given power.

It was a very close race in the $300 bookshelf selection. It came down to the SuperOne's and the Mini Monitors for me.
I really like the bass responce of the Mini's, but I'm running a sub so that wasn't an issue. The Mini's would be a great choice for those not planning to run a sub.
Why the SuperOnes for me?
Crystal clear midrange. Voices come out very clean, but a little back in the soundstage on some recordings. New speaker cables may help this. I'm running really old Monster from my Acurus DIA100. (Any suggestions on speaker cables would be greatly appreciated.)
The other selling point is that the NHT's can be braketed to the wall. The NHT's were not affected by close wall placement like the Mini's which got a little boomy in my room.
Overall, I am very happy this these speakers. Next step is to decide on a center channel (SuperCenter or a single SuperOne) and surrounds.

Acurus DIA100 (for 2 channel)
Adcom GSA700 (Add-on for surround)
Sony DVP-S530D (DD out to Adcom) (Also used for CD's - directly to Acurus)
NHT SuperOne's (Mains)
KLH 10/120 Sub ($99 at Costco)
KLH Center & bookshelf rears (to be replaced by NHT)
Monster M550i Interconnects

Similar Products Used:

Paradigm Mini Monitors